Bexhill, Sussex

Historical Description

Bexhill or Bexhill-on-Sea, a parish, town, and rapidly increasing watering-place in Sussex. The town stands on a rising-ground on the L.B. & S.C.R., 67 miles from London and 5 WSW of Hastings, under which it has a post, money order, and telegraph office. It has a station on the railway between Eastbourne and Hastings, and contains many good houses, has some chalybeate springs, enjoys a very salubrious air, is surrounded by charming environs with fine extensive views, has fine sands, and has for some time been coming into favour as a watering-place. It has a good supply of excellent water. The parish includes also the liberty of Sluice, and extends some distance on the shore. It is governed by a local board. The area is 8015 acres, of which 663 are foreshore and water; population, 5206. The sea is receding from the coast, and has left to view a submarine forest. Lignite is found. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Chichester; net value, £310. Patron, the Bishop of Chichester. The church has a Norman nave and an Early English chancel, and is good. It was restored in 1870, and again in 1890. The Church of St Bamabas was opened in 1891. It was built at the expense of the Rev. Prebendary Charles Leopold Stanley Clarke, rector of Bexhiy. Little Common is a part of the parish lying 2 miles west. The Church of St Mark is a stone building erected in 1842 and enlarged in 1885, in the Early English style. The living is a rectory; value, £280, in the gift of the Bishop of Chichester. There are Wesleyan and Methodist chapels, and two coastguard stations. The Metropolitan Convalescent Home was opened in 1880, The Egerton Park and public grounds, 15 acres in extent, contain a lake, cricket ground, swimming pond, and tennis lawns, and form a handsome and valuable attraction to the town.

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.

Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Bexhill from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Bexhill (St. Peter))

Maps

Online maps of Bexhill are available from a number of sites:

• Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• Google Streetview.
• National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
• OpenStreetMap.
• old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
• Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)

Newspapers and Periodicals

The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Sussex newspapers online:

• Mid Sussex Times
• Chichester Express and West Sussex Journal
• Sussex Agricultural Express
• Hastings and St Leonards Observer
• Sussex Advertiser
• Brighton Gazette
• Bexhill-on-Sea Observer